


we could live forever if you've got the time

by orphan_account



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Established Relationship, Inspired by Music, Inspired by Poetry, M/M, Making Out, Oh, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, i dont know what else to tag its pretty much it?, kind of jaemin centered, no angst but jaemin shares some deep thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 17:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19114666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "Jaemin," Donghyuck snaps him out of it, quite literally. With a hand in front of his face. "Nostalgia's cool but it won't help you now.""Quit quoting Paramore, Donghyuck." Jaemin smiles at him, watching as the boy made out of constellations bites back a smile."There's nothing else to do…" he starts, looking everywhere except Jaemin, just like the drama queen he is. "Someone decided to stop kissing me."or, jaemin figures out there's no amount of poetry to stop the end of the world from happening.





	we could live forever if you've got the time

**Author's Note:**

> mhmmm... hi! ive had my fair share of publishing fics but ive decided i wanted to start it all over, so this is a new ao3 account and consequently,, this is my first fic.
> 
> ive never been more satisfied with something ive written before, i honestly love this one and i hope u do just as much. 
> 
> thanks for stopping by, have fun!

Jaemin recalls the start of everything going south with a soft pace. Gentle strokes of a paintbrush in a blank canvas, like what once was bland slowly and calmly began coming to life - or better, coming to an end; dying. 

When he thinks about the whereabouts of the world, there’s always a strike of pain in the back of his brain, like it’s the Universe itself reminding him they’re still there - just not the way it used to be. Like all the rivers, trees and chirping birds, maybe in a different timeline, are still in the same place. Not waiting for him nor anyone, but there, as a mother’s hand on their child’s back. Just for the comfort of it.

He doesn’t get lost in the fantasy of one day everything returning to the way it was; he doesn’t engage in recreative daydreaming. The suffering is too much to bare and he’s in no position to lose himself in ugly feelings. It’s the end of the world - Hell, make the most out of it.

Jaemins makes his art, he sings to dead leaves floating around and the summer breeze, he writes and writes and writes like someone’s going to read it. Like they're already planning to make him a memoir in the future. He splatters paint everywhere like he’s going to get scolded for it and he enjoys every single time. 

If by any means, anyone asks him if he thoroughly enjoyed the end of the world, Jaemin can answer them with all the letters: Hell. Fucking. Yeah.

“What planet is your mind currently in?” Jaemin’s thoughts get interrupted, with no surprise, by the honey-looking boy sitting by his side.

He sighs, as if big windows just got opened with the force of the wind and all his thoughts went away along with it, “Earth. What’s left?”

“Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Pluto…” Donghyuck answers, counting on his fingers if he got all of them right, after all, taking extra terrestrial life seriously is kind of his thing. And poetry, apple pies, being annoying, yadda yadda. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Jaemin answers mindlessly, turning his head and giving Donghyuck a big toothy grin, pink gummies showing and all. Because who is he to deny the other boy that, right? 

Donghyuck doesn’t answer with a smile right away, opting to just take it all in, probably. He looks at his hands in the steering wheel, the way his nail polish is all scratched at the bottom of his nails, then at his jeans, blue and worn-out. And then he smiles back at Jaemin, gentle and sweet, just the way he is. 

Moments like these catch Jaemin off guard, not that tenderness doesn’t exist in the after world; it wasn’t eradicated. It just comes in different forms now: like paying attention to what someone’s saying after a long day, like smiling through the rearview mirror whenever things look like too much outside of their car, it’s soft stroke of fingers on your wrist and gently brushing a strand of hair out of one’s eye during the sandy wind. 

The desert is hard and merciless, it doesn’t leave space for tender and soft, but Donghyuck and Jaemin try their hardest to keep it alive and well. 

"Your locks seem to be getting quite out of control." Jaemin notices, running a hand through the other boy's hair, untangling the knots with his own fingers, watching as some sand falls in Donghyuck's lap. It's all sorts of delicate. 

Donghyuck nods his head, leaning a bit into Jaemin's touch, closing his eyes in the process. "If only Johnny's Barber Shop was still around."

"Hey!" Jaemin taps Donghyuck lightly on the forehead, making the other boy open both his eyes, "I can cut your hair!" 

Donghyuck smiles sheepishly, the exact same look as his own mom used to give him now on his face. "Just because your art project from 8th grade was a collage doesn't mean you have your ways with scissors, Jaemin." 

The other boy sighs, "Doesn't it though? I'm sure I can manage to cut you a mean mohawk…" Jaemin sighs, taking his hands off the other boy's hair and placing them in his own lap, tracing circles in his thigh. "If only someone trusted me enough…"

Donghyuck chuckles from his side, putting his hand on top of Jaemin's as his own little way to end the argument that didn't even started. "I do trust you, sweetheart." He starts, looking directly into Jaemin's eyes, like he's some kind of siren ready to enchant him with undying love and desire. Maybe he is, who knows. "Just not with scissors, but we'll figure something out." He finishes clicking his tongue and running his fingers through Jaemin's knuckles. Jaemin nods, shaking the faded pink cloud on top of his head along with him.

"We always do."

 

"When did this started?" Donghyuck starts, jolting Jaemin awake from this little trance he seems to be getting more and more familiar with. They're laying in the grass, which sounds totally different from what a post-apocalyptic scenery was supposed to be.

It's always desert-y in every media attempt to portray it, and that is a check. But no one seemed to care about the few birds still left and how they still sing in the morning, the flowers that for some reason still grow and the grass that's still there for hungry lovers to lay on and bathe in sunshine.

"I guess between prom and the end of the world." Jaemin answers, knowing exactly what Donghyuck's talking about. What and why. Always.

"Yeah but," Donghyuck supports himself in one elbow, turning his head lightly to Jaemin's direction, closing one eye because of the sun. "How? And why?" 

Jaemin smiles from behind his arm, the sun rays glistening when met with his white teeth. "You want me to tell you it's because of love, Duckie?" 

The other boy lets out some air he didn't even know he was holding, turning entirely in Jaemin's direction, propping himself in his elbows, stomach down. The rustling of his jeans against the grass just like a symphony to Jaemin's ears. Oh - the sound of being alive!

"No- I don't. I want the truth." He says, simply. Little freckles appearing on his cheeks looking just like stars. God, Donghyuck is a night full of stars yet Jaemin's the only one lucky enough to see.

"The cold hard truth is…" Jaemin trails off, "I don't know, Hyuck. Do you? Does anyone? Are we together for a bigger purpose or just because we like each other? What's your favorite option?" 

Donghyuck sighs, running a hand through his face. It leaves dirtier than it was, mostly from sand. "I don't know. I guess my favorite is the one that you just love me for me." 

Jaemin chuckles, not in a patronizing way but rather the total opposite. "You dumbass," he scoots closer to where the other boy is laying, "you total dingus. Of course I love you for you," He places both hands in each side of Donghyuck's cheeks, squishing it a little just for the sake of it. "I love you for everything you are, everything you will be. Hell- everything you need to be. How many more times do I have to say it?" 

Donghyuck laughs, albeit a bit strangely from his cheeks being squeezed together. "No more. I get it, I get it-" 

And then Jaemin kisses him, with full force just the way he likes it. Like a hurricane in its peak or just like the total nuisance he is. Like the end of the world it's no match to Jaemin's explosiveness behaviour when it comes to Donghyuck.

He kisses him because he can, because the apocalypse isn't stopping him and because it feels damn good. Donghyuck lips are soft and all sorts of magical and who is Jaemin to just sit there and do nothing?

The other boy is pliant at first, just kissing back because fighting for dominance with Jaemin it's a lost fight from the start, but from time to time he tugs at the younger's lock just for the fun of it, leaving both of them gasping for air.

"That was so cheesy," Donghyuck stops the kiss, lips plump from Jaemin's biting. Jaemin hums just to let him know he's listening and not lost in his own mind. Again. "What you said. It was cheesy." 

Jaemin snorts, getting to a sitting position and watching as Donghyuck pants, a tiny ant crawling on his forearm as he pants. "You love it!" he jokes, connecting Donghyuck's cheek moles with the tip of his index finger.

He's left with a handful of stars, Jaemin, that is. And most of the time he has no idea what to do with them. The demanding presence of Donghyuck, the homesickness that comes along with him too much for Jaemin to bare.

Jaemin often thinks about young lovers kissing behind that big willow tree just behind the basketball court at their old school, he thinks about Donghyuck's mom's freshly baked cookies, about Fitzgerald's letters and every bubblegum pop song he could remember.

It's cool - he thinks. This feeling of his, like a magic box, every time he opens it a ton of good memories fall out of it.

"Jaemin," Donghyuck snaps him out of it, quite literally. With a hand in front of his face. "Nostalgia's cool but it won't help you now."

"Quit quoting Paramore, Donghyuck." Jaemin smiles at him, watching as the boy made out of constellations bites back a smile. 

"There's nothing else to do…" he starts, looking everywhere except Jaemin, just like the drama queen he is. "Someone decided to stop kissing me."

Jaemin could play along, he obviously could. But what's the fun in that when Donghyuck is just so pretty, so pretty and so… _there._

In a frenzy, Jaemin sits in Donghyuck's thighs, jeans rustling on top of the other. He leans down, lips close from the other boy's ear. "Good?" Donghyuck nods, even though it was more of a rhetorical question than an actual one. But he nods because he's just like that. Sweet.

Jaemin kisses him slowly, just like the Universe would expect. The world has gone to shit, _take all the time you need!_ He kisses him and kisses him and kisses him til' their mouths feel like they're purple, til' Donghyuck's squirming underneath him and til' the stars finally start appearing, one by one, this time, in the night sky. 

 

"What about, _mhm,_ canned soup for supper, my love?" Donghyuck announces in a fake british accent, tipping the ghost of a hat on top of his head while saying so.

"Uh," Jaemin starts, "there are so many options. Between canned soup and canned soup," he makes a show of tapping his index finger in his chin, "I guess I'll have the soup." 

"Good." Donghyuck smiles at him, a dusty apron tied tightly around his torso; they've found it in an old supermarket, along with some slippers, a teddy bear and an old stereo. "We need to go on another mission of ours, do some groceries." 

"Yeah," Jaemin agrees from the other side of the room, legs crossed, a tiny notebook balanced on top of them while he scribs on it. It never left his system, even when everything feels like it's too much - poetry never is. "How long can a person run only on tomato soup and beans?" 

Donghyuck sighs, "Who knows. I just wish we could find Kun's food in some corner, totally randomly. Can you imagine?" 

"God," Jaemin moans, putting his paper aside and sprawling on the sofa he's sitting. "We totally took it for granted, I know we did."

"Yeah… I'd kill for his dumplings right now. They were superb." Donghyuck licks his lips mindlessly, just the memory of it making his mouth water. 

"All sorts of good adjectives: superb, wonderful, marvelous, excellent, magnificent." Jaemin so much as shouts, smiling to himself. "Do you think he's doing good?"

Donghyuck stops whatever he was doing, looking Jaemin in the eyes, a ghost of seriousness running through his face. "I don't know, Nana. I'd like to think that - yes, he's doing amazing."

"Maybe he opened his own restaurant?" Jaemin adds, hopefulness dripping from his voice as he finds himself imagining. "With Ten?"

Donghyuck smiles, forming crinkles at the corner of his eyes. "Sure, with Ten. I'd like to see that."

"Yeah, Ten was a mess in the kitchen." Jaemin laughs, "But I bet Kun made it work." 

They don't talk about it often, but Jaemin knows it's always there between the two of them - the longing. The grief, the sadness, sometimes so _so_ well painted over it's even hard to recognize, but Jaemin knows it's there.

How couldn't it be? The world ended, just like that. Their hearts are still beating and brains still working, there's no part of them that stopped existing, but some did. And they were doomed to go on.

Doomed. Blessed - Hell, who knows? It's a gift or a curse, Jaemin never wrapped his head around it, he just knows it's hard. For everyone.

"You know," he starts after a long pause between the two. "If I could allow myself the luxury of daydreaming," Donghyuck gets closer, from the corner of his eye Jaemin sees him untying his apron and setting it neatly on the table, then walking in his direction.

He sits by Jaemin's side, putting his arm over his shoulder, just like they do in the movies. "If I could - I wouldn't think of us much more differently then we are right now."

Donghyuck hums, signaling he's still listening. "Maybe cleaner." They both chuckle, "And maybe in a more comfortable couch, but that's about it."

"Really?" Donghyuck turns his head to the side, "No Netflix? No video games? Or Twitter?" 

"You know what I meant, Duckie," Jaemin rolls his eyes, "and Twitter sucked anyway, I wouldn't trade this for it."

"You wouldn't?" 

“No,” Jaemin answers truthfully, “This is every writer’s dream life, you know?” 

Donghyuck laughs, a throaty one, like the ones he lets out whenever he’s expecting something odd to come out of Jaemin’s mouth. One of his dad jokes, or this: “All wrapped around each other, with no worries whatsoever. The only thing stopping us from having the perfect life is the abyss of not knowing what’s next.”

“Ok, Kafka, we get it. We get it.” Donghyuck teases him, tapping Jaemin’s thigh lightly. The other boy raises it, putting it on top of Donghyuck’s. All over each other, like clouds. Or panda bears, whatever. 

“I mean it, though. I wouldn’t have this in any other way, even if it sounds cheesy and makes me cringe when I go to sleep.” Jaemin laughs at himself, burying his face in Donghyuck’s neck just for the act of doing it.

“We both know you don’t have what it takes to cringe, Nana. You shameless beast!” 

Jaemin laughs at that. He laughs like his default reaction to Donghyuck’s silliness is to giggle like an adolescent during Math class. He gets the same exact feeling around the other boy a lot - that one of utmost freedom mixed with giddiness, like butterflies to the stomach are no match to what he actually feels. He never talks about it though, never dares to spill the words from his mouth to anywhere else other than the paper he’s always keeping a hold of. Donghyuck is poetry at its core, and Jaemin’s in no position to waste it. 

Sometimes he draws - when he feels he’s in a battle with words and his senses. He draws his feelings like Van Gogh himself is at his side coordinating every single brush. Donghyuck loves it, and he’s very vocal about it, complimenting with kisses to the nape and pretty words. 

And amidst everything, they’re together, whether entangled in each other, whether alone. They love the world even in its hard places. Everywhere. _Always._

**Author's Note:**

> i couldnt possibly say this is a gift to donghyuck giving it isnt his birthday anymore and this was mostly jaemin centered but, i can 100% say: duckie if ur reading this i love love love love u! you beautiful soul you!
> 
>  oh, and i hope u all had fun! this was highly inspired by poetry and music (mostly mcr's album danger days. go check it out!)
> 
> feel free to leave some comments i love getting feedback on my writing! bye <3


End file.
